Portrait

File:VanGogh 1887 Selbstbildnis.jpg

An example of a portrait showing the painter Vincent van Gogh. It is a self-portrait because van Gogh is also the person who made the portrait.

File:Sir Anthony Van Dyck - Charles I (1600-49) - Google Art Project.jpg

Anthony van Dyck, Charles I in Three Positions, 1635-1636, shows profile, full face and three-quarter views, to send to Bernini in Rome, who was to sculpt a bust from this model.

A portrait is a painting or a photograph of a person's face and its expression. The purpose of a portrait is to show the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this reason, in photography, a portrait is actually not a snapshot, but a calm image of a person in a still position. A portrait normally shows a person looking directly at the painter or photographer.

Gallery

• Girl with a Pearl Earring, Vermeer's most famous painting.
  Girl with a Pearl Earring, Vermeer's most famous painting.
• William Orpen: Portrait of Gertrude Sanford, 1922
  William Orpen: Portrait of Gertrude Sanford, 1922
• Roman-Egyptian funeral portrait of a woman
  Roman-Egyptian funeral portrait of a woman
• Sharaku: Actor Ichikawa Ebozo as Takemura Sadanoshin, 1794.
  Sharaku: Actor Ichikawa Ebozo as Takemura Sadanoshin, 1794.
• Butch Cassidy mug shot from the Wyoming Territorial Prison in 1894.
  Butch Cassidy mug shot from the Wyoming Territorial Prison in 1894.
• Photographic self-portrait by Edward S. Curtis, 1899
  Photographic self-portrait by Edward S. Curtis, 1899

Other websites

• National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution
• National Portrait Gallery London
• Painting The Century 101 Portrait Masterpieces
• Jeanne Ivy's Self-Portrait Page Archived 2002-03-10 at the Wayback Machine - What Artists Find When They Search in the Mirror.
• Portrait Detectives - Fun interactive introduction to the analysis of portraiture.
• Reportret - A gallery of reconstructions of missing portraits from world history.